Sara I. Gideon^[1] (born December 4, 1971) is an American politician who served as theSpeaker of the Maine House of Representatives.^[2] A member of theDemocratic Party fromFreeport, she represented the 48th district in theMaine House of Representatives, which includes part of Freeport andPownal inCumberland County.^[3]

Gideon was the Democratic nominee for the2020 U.S. Senate election in Maine, losing toincumbent RepublicanSusan Collins.

Gideon was born and raised inRhode Island. Her father, apediatrician, is fromIndia and her mother, a nurse clinician, is a second-generationArmenian American.^[4][5]

Gideon is the youngest of four siblings, one of whom, Melanie, is anovelist.^[6][7] She graduated fromEast Greenwich High School inEast Greenwich, Rhode Island, in 1989.^[8] In 1994, she earned aBachelor of Arts in international affairs fromGeorge Washington University'sElliott School of International Affairs inWashington, D.C.^[9]

She served as an intern forU.S. SenatorClaiborne Pell.^[10] She also worked as anadvertising account executive atUSA Today.^[11][12]

In 2004, Gideon moved toFreeport, Maine.^[12] In October 2009, she won a seat on the FreeportTown Council.^[13] She served until 2012, and was the council's vice chair beginning in 2011.^[9]

First elected to theMaine House of Representatives in 2012, Gideon was reelected in 2014 and chosen as Assistant Majority Leader.^[14] In 2016, she was elected as Speaker by the House.^[15] As speaker, Gideon also supportedMedicaid expansion in Maine, including the2017 referendum on the topic, and helped override GovernorPaul LePage's veto of a bill to make the anti-overdose drugnaloxone (Narcan) available over-the-counter,^[16] aimed at preventing deaths from theopioid epidemic.^[17]

Gideon was a member of the Legislature's Joint Standing Committee on Energy, Utilities and Technology. According toIndia Abroad, "she worked to lower energy costs, encourage increased energy efficiency and promote clean and renewable energy to capitalize on Maine's natural resources and build a clean-energy economy."^[5]

After Democratic GovernorJanet Mills was elected in 2018, theMaine Legislature under Gideon's speakership passed several keyclimate change bills, including ameasure requiring Maine to achieve 80 percentrenewable energy by 2030 and 100 percent by 2050.^[18] As speaker in 2019 and 2020, Gideon also sponsored legislation to expandabortion access by allowingphysician assistants andadvanced practice registered nurses to perform the procedure.^[19] She sponsored legislation to block the Quebec power companyHydro-Québec from spending money to influence a referendum of a controversial proposed power line project in Maine.^[20]

In 2019, Gideon faced an election ethics complaint for accepting reimbursements for her personal political donations from her own PAC.^[21] A spokesperson said, "The contributions were within the legal limit and fully disclosed, but the committee was given incorrect guidance on how to process them."^[21] The campaign said that it had reimbursed the federal government $3,250 for the violations and closed the PAC.^[22] In October 2019, the Maine Ethics Commission voted unanimously to fine the closed PAC $500.^[22]

On June 24, 2019, Gideon announced her candidacy in the2020 Senate election to challenge incumbent RepublicanSusan Collins.^[23] In the first week of her campaign, she raised more than $1 million.^[24] Gideon ran against Betsy Sweet and Bre Kidman in theranked-choice Democraticprimary election.^[18] In the primary, Gideon received support from the mainstream of the Democratic Party, while Sweet and Kidman drew support from the party's insurgent progressive wing.^[18] Before the July 14 primary, Gideon was endorsed by theDemocratic Senatorial Campaign Committee^[25][26] as well aslabor unions and women's groups.^[18] Gideon led in primary election polling,^[18] and won the primary with roughly 70% of the vote.^[26][27] By the time of the primary election, she had raised $23 million.^[27]

In 2019, theLeague of Conservation Voters Action Fund endorsed Gideon.^[28] Following her Democratic primary win in June, Gideon received endorsements fromNARAL,EMILY's List,Progressive Democrats of America,Brand New Congress, andOur Revolution.^[29] In August, former President Barack Obama endorsed Gideon.^[30] In 2020, theHuman Rights Campaign (HRC), the country's largest LGBTQ rights advocacy organization, opposed the reelection of Susan Collins and instead endorsed Gideon. It is the first time that the HRC has opposed Collins, who has been seen as a key Republican vote on LGBTQ rights.^[31]

TheBangor Daily News endorsed Gideon in the Democratic primary in June 2020.^[32]

Gideon states that she has made affordable drugs and health care her primary campaign issues. She supports theAffordable Care Act ("Obamacare"). She also supports apublic health insurance option,^[18] which would allow Americans to buy intoMedicare while also retaining a private health insurance market.^[33][34] She supports allowing Medicare to negotiate lowerprices for prescription drugs, and a prohibition on pharmaceutical company "pay to delay" agreements.^[18]

In the state House, Gideon sponsored legislation to expand abortion access and extend benefits to families in poverty.^[35] She states she will fight any attempts to attack or defundPlanned Parenthood; will work to roll back theTitle X gag rule, which has impacted Maine Family Planning and Planned Parenthood clinics. Gideon has been endorsed byPlanned Parenthood Action Fund andNARAL.^[36] Gideon opposed theTrump tax bill.^[33] Gideon supports the U.S. rejoining theParis Agreement tocombat climate change; the U.S. entered the agreement underBarack Obama, butwithdrew under Donald Trump.^[18] She supports government funding for the development of renewable energy (e.g. solar, wind, geo-thermal) and the federal regulation of greenhouse gas emissions.^[36] Gideon supportsuniversal background checks andred flag laws,^[37] and has expressed support forhigh-capacity magazine restrictions.^[38] Gideon supports variouspolice reforms, including a police misconduct registry and requirements for the use ofbody cameras andvehicle cameras.^[18]

Gideon married attorney Benjamin Rogoff Gideon in November 2001.^[6] Ben Gideon is a medical malpractice and personal injury attorney at Gideon Asen LLC.^[39]

• List of female speakers of legislatures in the United States

• Sara Gideon for Maine official campaign website
• Sara GideonArchived October 22, 2020, at theWayback Machine government website
• Sara Gideon atBallotpedia
• Appearances onC-SPAN

• Financial information (federal office) at theFederal Election Commission
• Profile atVote Smart

• 1971 births
• 21st-century American women politicians
• American advertising executives
• American people of Armenian descent
• American politicians of Indian descent
• Asian American and Pacific Islander state legislators
• Asian-American people in Maine politics
• Candidates in the 2020 United States Senate elections
• Elliott School of International Affairs alumni
• Living people
• Maine city council members
• Majority leaders of the Maine House of Representatives
• Politicians from Freeport, Maine
• People from East Greenwich, Rhode Island
• Politicians from Kent County, Rhode Island
• Speakers of the Maine House of Representatives
• Democratic Party members of the Maine House of Representatives
• Women city councillors in Maine
• Women legislative speakers
• Women state legislators in Maine
• 21st-century members of the Maine Legislature

• All articles with dead external links
• Articles with dead external links from September 2023
• Articles with permanently dead external links
• Articles with short description
• Short description matches Wikidata
• Use mdy dates from June 2019
• Webarchive template wayback links
• People appearing on C-SPAN